Bruno Mantovani

Biography

Conductor, teacher, musicologist, radio producer, director of institutions, Bruno Mantovani is above all a composer. Born on 8 October 1974, he studied at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse in Paris, where he won five first prizes, then at Ircam for the ‘computer music course’. His works have enjoyed international success since 1995 and have been performed in venues such as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Barbican Centre in London, La Scala in Milan, Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Centre in New York, the Philharmonie de Paris and the Musikverein in Vienna. Loyal to his favourite performers, he collaborates with prestigious soloists (Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, Renaud and Gautier Capuçon, Tabea Zimmermann), conductors (Marin Alsop, Pierre Boulez, Riccardo Chailly, Peter Eötvös, Philippe Jordan, Cristian Macelaru, Susanna Mälkki, Yannick Nézet Seguin, François-Xavier Roth), ensembles (Accentus, Intercontemporain) and orchestras (Bamberg Symphony, Berlin Radio, Chicago Symphony, National de France, Leipzig Gewandhaus, BBC London, Milan Scala, Münchner Philharmoniker, New York Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, Philharmonique de Radio France, Vienna RSO).
He was artist-in-residence at the French Academy in Rome (Villa Medici) in 2004–2005, at the Besançon Festival from 2006 to 2008, with the Lille National Orchestra from 2008 to 2011, then with the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse between 2010 and 2018, with the Orchestre National de Lyon in 2014-16 and with the Orchestre National du Rhin in Strasbourg from 2021 to 2023. The Musica Festival, where he has been a special guest since 2001, dedicated a portrait to him in 2006.
He has premiered three works at the Paris National Opera: the ballet Siddharta in 2010, the opera Akhmatova in 2011 and Jeux d'eau, a concerto for violin and orchestra, in 2012.
Passionate about the relationship between music and other forms of artistic expression, he collaborates with novelists Hubert Nyssen and Eric Reinhardt, librettists Dorian Astor, Christophe Ghristi and François Regnault, chefs Ferran Adrià and Mathieu Pacaud, choreographers Jean-Christophe Maillot and Angelin Preljocaj, and filmmaker Pierre Coulibeuf. His work regularly explores the history of Western music (Bach, Gesualdo, Rameau, Schubert, Schumann) and popular repertoires (jazz, Eastern music).
Alongside his work as a composer, Bruno Mantovani pursues a career as a conductor, with a repertoire ranging from Mozart's symphonies to contemporary works. He regularly conducts contemporary music ensembles (Accentus, Intercontemporain, Lemanic Modern Ensemble, TM+) as well as youth orchestras in Germany, the Simon Bolivar Orchestra in Caracas, the French National Orchestra, the Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Paris Symphony Orchestra, the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Capitole Orchestra in Toulouse. He has been appointed musical director of the Ensemble Orchestral Contemporain from January 2020.
Producer of a weekly programme on France Musique in 2014-15, he directed the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris from 2010 to 2019, then taught contemporary repertoire interpretation there for a year before becoming director of the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Saint-Maur-des-Fossés in September 2020. He will also take on the role of artistic director of the Monte Carlo Spring Arts Festival from May 2021.
He has received several awards in international competitions, including the Hervé Dugardin Prize, the Georges Enesco Prize and the Sacem Grand Prix in 2000, 2005 and 2009, the André Caplet Prize from the Institut in 2005, the SACD New Talent Prize in 2007, the Belmont Prize from the Forberg-Schneider Foundation in the same year, the Victoire de la Musique for Composer of the Year in 2009, the Claudio Abbado Prize from the Berlin Philharmonic and the International Music Press Prize in 2010, the Cecilia Prize in 2012, and numerous awards for his recordings (including several coups de coeur from the Académie Charles Cros, a « Choc de l'année » from Le Monde de la Musique, and a selection in the ten best records of 2008 in The New York Times). He was made a Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters in April 2022, a Knight of the Order of Merit in April 2012, a Knight of the Order of the Legion of Honour in July 2016 and a Knight of the Order of Cultural Merit of Monaco in November 2025. He was elected to the Académie des Beaux-Arts on 17 May 2017 and was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Cluj-Napoca in 2019.

His works are published by Editions Henry Lemoine.